These paper-and-ink drafts offer glimpses into the creative habits of 25 authors who wrote their timeless works the old-fashioned way.
Creative thinkers often have some unconventional impulses: Immanuel Kant liked being wrapped up like a mummy, and Charles Dickens lived with a bunch of animals.
Honorees from the publication's once-in-a-decade list praise their contemporaries.
"The richest children were more possessive."
The many parental and professorial objections to the teaching of literature like To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, and more
A variety of questionable celebrity pointers, from Snooki's parenting tips to Benjamin Franklin on how to choose a mistress
From Tina Fey's memoir to Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler's dystopias, these works offer a window into the female experience.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in jaunty cursive loops; Emily and Charlotte Brontë, meanwhile, wrote on scraps of paper so tiny their penmanship requires a magnifying glass.
Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Mencken, and other scribes had deep thoughts on boozing.
Five books the mysterious ad exec should read, with an optional Old Fashioned in hand.
Even the greats of modern literature had awkward phases.
Ginsberg was sloppy, Vonnegut was giggly, and none of Frank McCourt's students ever thought he would become a famous writer.
Nine letters of admiration sent between writers, and one scathing letter of scorn
Some authors' thoughts on what female perfection means are sweet; others are maybe a little regrettable.
These 20 self-renderings reveal the ways some famous visionaries have seen themselves.
Images of post-modernists in Midtown, Twain in repose, and more
Some famous thinkers make gifted elucidators when they step behind the lectern; others are more like nutty professors.
Noteworthy feminist writing, from the works of Virginia Woolf to Caitlin Moran
Contemporary writers discuss their favorite romantic sentiments by Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, and more
Some authors create thinly veiled characters out of admiration; others do it out of pure spite.
